Minister Andeok Geun of the Ministry of Industry Chairs the '3rd East Sea Deepwater Gas Field Development Strategy Meeting'
Drilling Ship to Arrive at Busan Port in Mid-December... Drilling Operations for 2 Months
Investment Attraction Procedures to Begin in Full After First Phase Drilling
The first drilling sites for the East Sea deep-sea gas field, aiming to discover up to 1.4 billion barrels of oil and gas, have been selected as the 'Daewanggorae Structure' Block 8 and the northern part of Block 6-1. Drilling operations will officially begin in mid-next month. The government plans to analyze the drilling data and officially announce the results in the first half of next year.
On the 27th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held the '3rd East Sea Deep-Sea Gas Field Development Strategy Meeting' at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency in Seoul, chaired by Minister Andeok Geun. The meeting was attended by related ministries, national research institutes, affiliated academic societies, resource public enterprises, and private companies, where the Daewanggorae Structure was selected as the first drilling site.
In September this year, a technical advisory committee composed of six domestic resource development-related academic societies reviewed the 'Exploration Drilling Plan for Block 8 and the northern part of Block 6-1' submitted by the Korea National Oil Corporation and expressed the opinion that the proposed first drilling site was appropriate. Accordingly, the Korea National Oil Corporation established a detailed drilling plan including the first drilling site earlier this month and submitted it to the government. A Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy official explained, "At this 3rd development strategy meeting, it was agreed that it is appropriate to finalize and approve the exploration drilling plan for Block 8 and the northern part of Block 6-1, with the Daewanggorae Structure as the drilling location."
If the government approves the Korea National Oil Corporation's first drilling plan, the drilling vessel is scheduled to enter Busan Port in mid-December this year, undergo pre-drilling preparations such as equipment loading and supply, and then proceed with drilling operations. The drilling is expected to take about two months. After analyzing the data secured during the drilling process, the government plans to officially announce the results of the first drilling in the first half of next year. However, detailed schedules related to the first drilling may change depending on weather and operational conditions, and specific information will be announced later.
Investment attraction will be actively pursued after the first drilling. Since July this year, the Korea National Oil Corporation has been holding investment briefings targeting global major companies and domestic firms, and in October selected S&P Global as an advisory firm to establish an investment attraction strategy.
Regarding the revision of the royalty system, the government has prepared amendments to the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Deep-Sea Mineral Resources Development Act, which include key points such as ▲imposing royalties considering corporate profitability ▲introducing special royalties during periods of high oil prices ▲establishing a restoration cost reserve system. The legislative notice and consultations with related ministries have been completed. The government plans to finalize the amendments within this year.
Minister Andeok said, "I hope that the success of the first exploration drilling will be an opportunity to greatly contribute to the stable growth of the national economy and securing resource security. While the drilling results are important, since this marks the first step toward the full-scale development of domestic deep-sea gas fields, we will not be fixated on success or failure but will steadily promote subsequent explorations based on the experience and information gained from the first drilling."
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